1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ophthalmic measuring method and apparatus, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for measuring the state of fine particles in the aqueous chamber of a patient's eye which is being examined and which is irradiated with a laser beam to detect the scattering characteristics in the aqueous chamber of the eye.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Measurements of the plasma protein concentration and of the blood corpuscle count and other cell counts inside the aqueous chamber are extremely important in diagnosing states of inflammation inside the aqueous chamber, both endogenous or exogenous.
The plasma protein concentration in the aqueous chamber, as well as the state of micro-particles such as blood corpuscles there, was determined in most cases in the past by means of visual inspections using a slit-lamp microscope.
In the aforesaid method of the past, the criteria for judgment were quite diverse on account of the individual differences between observers, and the data obtained by this method were lacking in reliability.
In addition to the aforesaid methods using subjective observations, other indirect methods of measuring the plasma proteins have also been proposed. In these methods, a fluorescent material such as fluorescein is injected into the body intravenously, and the fluorescent intensity of the fluorescein flowing into the aqueous chamber is measured. However, these methods impose a heavy physical burden on the patient and are problematic from the clinical viewpoint.